Cublington Sunday XI vs Hyde Heath

Written by Tom Gadsby

We took on old foes, and friends Hyde Heath at the Cublington Oval on a pitch that was definitely better the the one at Wingrave although really rather green and uneven, so we can blame skipper Harry Gadsby's decision to bat first on winning the toss for the eventual result.

Gadsby (T) and Middleton (M) were sent out to try to defy the HH openers, the pace of Atif and the accurate off-spin of Ateeq. The pair put on 42 for the first wicket off ten overs, most of which were Extras (Extras finished with 52 and put in a good shout for man-of-the-match). Martin fell for a creditable 17, Tom for not quite so many. The powerhouse middle order of Harry (38) and Bainesy (23) took us to 113 but a bit of a collapse, offset by a tidy innings from James Gregory and some characteristic wallops from Alec saw us post 169. The total felt 15-20 below par.

We enjoyed the first proper tea for for three years with egg sarnies, beef sarnies, lemon drizzle cake, scones with jam and cream, and Alec's unusual cold pizzas. And lashings of actual tea. Half the HH side were observing Ramadan so we had plenty, too.

Matt Carter had been injured in the 2s game on Saturday and couldn't play but luckily he was able to drive and deliver us our opening bowler Theo Carter. On his senior debut Theo weighed in with two excellent wickets but Usman and Ansur dug in for a 110-run stand for the third wicket despite an great spell of seven overs for just 15 runs from Tony Gore. The batsmen were very conscious of his threatening control of line and length and were very respectful of him. Phil 'Kevin' Suddick and 13-year-old Sam Brown, plucked as a sub from the nets where he was knocking his dad's bowling around, both bowled tight spells of three for 12 and 14 respectively. Skipper Harry brought himself on at the death and nipped out both the HH half-centurions, plus completed a comedy run-out after keeper Martin M had strangely decided against removing the bails with both batsmen at the same end but the target was in sight and Hyde Heath ran out winners with three overs to spare.

Very promising debuts from Theo Carter, Phil Suddick and Sam Brown. In a discussion about annual subs afterwards Theo's dad Matt said that he would probably be a regular and Theo less so, only to be told 'We'll decide that thank you, Matt'. Man-of-the-match Tony for his fine spell just ahead of Theo and Extras.

And so to the Unicorn for a very sociable beer or two with the oppo. Proper village cricket, that.